Under growing pressure, Dominion Energy agrees to 6-month pause on asking to raise customers’ already sky-high electric rates

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Under growing pressure from state regulators, the governor and thousands of customers, Dominion Energy has agreed to a six-month pause on its request for a 7.8% electricity rate increase, which would have raised the average residential bill by $10 a month. 

The Public Service Commission voted unanimously to postpone the rate case hearing, which is now scheduled to reconvene on July 12.

This is good news for Dominion’s more than 750,000 customers in the Palmetto State, who already pay the highest electric bills in the country, and who also suffer from some of the highest energy burdens—the percentage of household income spent on energy to keep a home comfortable and livable.

In response, Will Harlan, senior representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign in South Carolina, released the following statement:

“Dominion’s request to raise electric rates has been especially heartless in the middle of an ongoing pandemic and economic crisis that has hurt communities who are already struggling to feed their families and make ends meet. 

“We’ll keep pressing Public Service Commissioners to ultimately reject this rate hike, which would sink even more of customers’ hard-earned money into Dominion’s dirty, expensive, unnecessary coal plants. Dominion must be required to stop burning polluting fossil fuels and accelerate South Carolina’s transition to 100% clean energy, which would protect our air and water, and shield customers from even higher energy bills.”